Anyone else sick of constantly having to clean that disgusting black brake dust off their wheels and fenders? Why can't GM use a ceramic compound that's cleaner? My Toyota Tundra pick-up has them and the wheels are always clean and the brakes work awsome. Only had to replace the front pads after 80,000 miles so I don't think the ceramics wear out as fast. Any comments. I'm thinking of converting to ceramics, any performance, wear or squeeking issues?

Anyone else sick of constantly having to clean that disgusting black brake dust off their wheels and fenders? Why can't GM use a ceramic compound that's cleaner?

GM has durability, cost, and manufacturing issues to contend with; that's why. To be fair, the car stops quicker than a Vette, so I'd say they chose wisely.

That said -- feel free to switch to ceramic. The purpose of that compound is reduced dust, noise, and wear. I've heard good things about HAWK, and they should, at the very least maintain stopping performance.

Guys, I have the Brembo's on my RT ( did the complete swap what a PITA ).

The factory pads ( at least in the SRT ranks ) is damn close to a race pad, that is why you get the dusting and is some cases rotor scoring.

If these are the same pad ( any one have good pics of the OEM pads ? ) they need heat to work well.

If you goto a low dust pad you are also loosing some braking performance, if you don't need that extra bit o stopping power, a lot of SRT guys went with the Posi Quite pads which are a very low dust and most people could tell the braking difference but they wanted low dust. ( I managed to horde up a lot of good factory pads from this swap )

The Factory 5.7l RT pads were damn good, lasted for ever and lived through 2 AutoX days and a road course event with out much issue, but they did fade badly after 3 very very hard laps at California speedways infield.

You need to decide what you want from the brakes and be honest and work from there because it will be a matter of what you will trade off.

Guys, I have the Brembo's on my RT ( did the complete swap what a PITA ).

The factory pads ( at least in the SRT ranks ) is damn close to a race pad, that is why you get the dusting and is some cases rotor scoring.

If these are the same pad ( any one have good pics of the OEM pads ? ) they need heat to work well.

If you goto a low dust pad you are also loosing some braking performance, if you don't need that extra bit o stopping power, a lot of SRT guys went with the Posi Quite pads which are a very low dust and most people could tell the braking difference but they wanted low dust. ( I managed to horde up a lot of good factory pads from this swap )

The Factory 5.7l RT pads were damn good, lasted for ever and lived through 2 AutoX days and a road course event with out much issue, but they did fade badly after 3 very very hard laps at California speedways infield.

You need to decide what you want from the brakes and be honest and work from there because it will be a matter of what you will trade off.

-Robert

I am pretty sure that the factory pads are nothign special on our cars. The people with HAWK pads have seen an increase in stopping performance not a decrease.

On other vehicles, every time I have switched to ceramic pads I start needing rotors. I'm guessing that they are harder, which would explain why they give off less dust, but sacrificing rotors for less dust isn't appealing to me.

Stay off the brakes, some dust is normal, If you getting a lot your spending to much time with you foot on the brake.

Try to driving without using the brake unless you're stopping. You maybe surprised how many times you are "tapping" the brakes when you don't need to. Also aware hard stops.
This should reduce the amount of dust on your wheels.

Stay off the brakes, some dust is normal, If you getting a lot your spending to much time with you foot on the brake.

Try to driving without using the brake unless you're stopping. You maybe surprised how many times you are "tapping" the brakes when you don't need to. Also aware hard stops.
This should reduce the amount of dust on your wheels.

I tell you, I use my brakes very rarely the way I drive and I had dust 5 minutes after I washed my car until I switched to the Hawk pads.

To give you an idea of how I drive, I have a 2006 Honda CR-V that I drive to work everyday 55 miles each way to NY City. I sit in Rush hour traffic. The CR-V is a manual 5 speed. I just changed my brakes at 100,000 miles and didn't even need new rotors.

My wife has the v-6 and doesn't get much(I don't either haha...). Must be something to do with the brembos on the ss. I had brembos on other cars and didn't seem to get much. I don't do a lot of stop and go. That might be the diff.

The Camaro SS comes standard with a low-met (low-steel) friction material called HP1000/1 made by Ferodo which has a relatively high friction coefficient. The same pads are used on the Pontiac G8 GXP, 2004-08 Cadillac CTS-V & 2005-2009 STS-V. Low-mets by nature are very dusty due to their steel/copper and other abrasive raw materials. The non SS Camaro's come standard with an NAO (Ceramic) friction material which will be less dusty but have a lower friction coefficient.